A Workflow Review is the paid step between the free intro call and a build. It runs about two weeks and ends with a written plan: what to automate first, what it saves, what it costs. The report is yours whether or not I build anything afterwards, and some reviews end with the advice to build nothing yet.
At a glance: A Kove Workflow Review costs $3,500 + GST and delivers a written report of 5 to 10 pages inside about two weeks, with a prioritised list of opportunities and the hours saved and a real cost against each one. Paying for it creates no obligation to build with me.
Before, during and after
It starts with the free 30-minute intro call. A review only gets booked when that call turns up something worth a fortnight of digging. If the call turns up nothing worth automating, it stops there. No review, no charge.
Once it is booked, the first few days are sessions with your team, in person if you are in Canterbury and over video otherwise, mapping the work as it gets done on a Tuesday, including the bits that never made it into the process doc. The middle stretch is costing the options and drafting the report. The last part is a walkthrough, so the numbers make sense before you act on any of them.
Then it is over. There is no ongoing check-in and no follow-up email sequence. You have a document and a decision, on your own timeline.
What the written plan contains
Five to ten pages, built around a prioritised list of the automation opportunities I found. Each one carries two numbers: the hours it saves, and what it would cost to build. Those two numbers are the point of the document, because they are what you hold a build quote against, mine or anyone else's.
The document is yours. If you would rather build with someone else, hand it to them. It is written to work as a brief for whoever does the job.
What it costs, and why it costs anything
$3,500 + GST, which is in the same range as the smallest builds I do. The fee covers the hours: a few days of sessions with your team, then costing three or four real options against what I found, then writing it up. The free call filters out the conversations that do not need that depth.
The fee also changes the shape of the advice. A free consultation has to lead to a sale to pay for itself. A paid report has already been paid for, so it can say "buy the subscription" or "wait a year" and still have done its job.
What happens if the answer is don't build yet
This is the question I get asked most about the review. Three outcomes come up often enough to name. The hours saved, multiplied out, come in under the cost of building. An off-the-shelf tool already covers about 90% of the job and the rest is too small to pay for a custom build. Or the process is still changing month to month, and anything built against it now will need rebuilding once it settles.
In each case the report says so, with the numbers that led there. I do not take on builds I expect to lose the client money, so the review has to be able to say no.
Common questions
How much does a Workflow Review cost?
$3,500 + GST. You get a written plan for the one process worth automating first: what to build, what it saves, and what it costs. It's a paid deliverable, not a sales pitch.
How long does a Workflow Review take?
It usually wraps up inside a fortnight: a few days of sessions mapping the workflow with your team, then time costing the options and drafting the report, then delivery with a walkthrough.
What if the Workflow Review says I shouldn't build anything yet?
That happens, and it's a genuine outcome, not a failure. The report is honest about the numbers. If the hours saved don't clear the cost of building, or an off-the-shelf tool already covers it, that's what the report says, and it's yours to keep either way.
After the review
If the review points to a build, the gap from the last page of the report to the first day of build work is usually two to four weeks. The build is fixed-scope, typically four to eight weeks depending on how many systems it touches, and ends with working software handed over.
If it points to buying something off the shelf, or to waiting, it ends there. Some people take the report and brief a different builder with it. Others use it to get a subscription signed off by whoever holds the budget. Both happen, and neither bothers me.
Not sure if you're even at review stage yet?
Start with the free 30-minute call. If there is nothing worth a paid review, you will hear that on the call.